


Pandora's Box

by Xelkyrien



Series: Changeling [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akuma Possession, Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 03:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20885540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xelkyrien/pseuds/Xelkyrien
Summary: Set at the beginning of s3e2 "Weredad". Cat Noir finds Marinette when he follows Ladybug to her roof and the two have a long talk that Tom and Sabine overhear.





	Pandora's Box

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this took so long. I've been pretty ill and tired for a while. I've also not been sure how to continue this series and keep events in it close to canon. The order the episodes are supposed to be in is baffling and quite a bit of what happens in them wouldn't make sense for this version of Marinette.  
I had the idea for this one planned already, a talk between Marinette and Cat Noir. I admit it didn't turn out quite like I thought it would, but oh well.

“Cake!” August shouted as he stomped down the street, once again having been transformed into Gigantitan. The people of Paris scattered as the enormous baby in his purple costume plowed through, his mind focused solely on one thing and knowing exactly where to find it.

The akumatized toddler was tailed by the city’s two superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir, making their way from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of the villain. They saw Gigantitan pause as the Dupain-Cheng Bakery came into view before a look of excitement took over his face and he waddled towards his goal joyfully exclaiming, “Cake!”

The shop was clearly closed for the night, but the owners who lived in the apartment above were still very much awake. Tom Dupain burst out of the shop’s door carrying the wooden peel the baker would typically use to transfer bread to and from the over. He looked up at the fast approaching villain and clutched the peel, a look of determination on his face.

“I’ll protect my pastries if it’s the last thing I do!” the man declared with every intention to follow through, but his wife, Sabine, rushed out of the shop calling his name and voicing her fears of his potentially getting injured. The two didn’t have much time to debate, however, as Gigantitan was almost upon them. The dark-haired woman hid behind her husband, clutching his arm in fear as he raised the peel, realization of the impossible task he had just committed to dawning on him.

Ladybug and Cat Noir dropped to the ground behind Gigantitan and fear surged through the polkadotted superhero.

“No, da-“ she shouted reflexively, but managed to catch herself at the last second, recoiling and shaking her head before correcting her slip up, “Mr. Dupain! Move aside!”

The teen hero drew her arm back and began twirling her yo-yo, launching it forward in an impressive throw that caught Gigantitan’s wrist. She put all her strength into holding it in place and keeping August from harming her parents or her home.

“Wow.” The girl heard somebody say, diverting her focus. She turned a glare towards Cat Noir standing right next to her and distracting her with his attempts at flirting. The boy, oblivious to her annoyance, continued, “My heart is just like that yo-yo wrapped baby’s wrist: taken prisoner by m’lady forever.”

The black clad hero puckered his lips and leaned in for a kiss, but at that moment Ladybug lost her footing and Gigantitan flung her through the air. She flew a short distance before colliding with a billboard. With a pained groan and spots speckling her vision the girl slid down the billboard. To her surprise she didn’t feel the bone rattling pain that would have come from a collision with the ground, but instead found herself in the strong arms of her partner.

She almost wished she had hit the sidewalk instead.

“Admit it, for a second there you almost fell for my poetic verse.” Cat Noir joked as he held her close, a smile on his face. She rolled her eyes and got to her feet, countering with a derisive snort, “If you call that poetry I’d hate to hear a serenade.”

Moving a few feet away to give herself some room for what she intended to do, Ladybug summoned her lucky charm. In a flurry of red magic an enormous red ring covered in black spots appeared out of thin air and, as gravity took hold on it, fell towards her. By some miracle she managed to catch the large object, straining to hold it as Cat Noir hastily jumped out of the way to avoid being hit by it.

The hero heard Gigantitan squeal “Cake!” before the weight of the ring vanished. The giant toddler stuffed the ring in his mouth, attempting to scarf the whole thing down. He quickly discovered that the lucky charm wasn’t made of anything edible and tossed it away in disgust, sending the object through the upper level of the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. The impact kicked up a cloud of dust and debris that made Ladybug glad she wasn’t in there as she stared in shock at the damage. Cat Noir, for his part, seemed unphased by the destruction, “Your plastic donut doesn’t stand a chance against the best macaroons in Paris. That baby has taste.”

She spun around to look at him, anger boiling up inside of her. Her impulse reaction was to yell, to tell him off for making light of her home’s demolition. The cat-themed hero had pulled his staff and was already charging in to battle before she managed to get a word out. Part of her was grateful for having the moment she would need to force down her negative emotions. She took that time to chide herself internally, reminding herself that Cat didn’t know she lived in that building and that he had no personal reason to be affected by it being destroyed. After all, once this fight was over everything would be restored as though the fight had never happened anyway. There was no reason to be angry.

After a few calming deep breaths and mental reassurances that her rage was misplaced Ladybug charged back into battle after her partner.

* * *

Tom and Sabine had covered their heads at the sight of the incoming ring to protect themselves from the falling debris. Now that the dust cloud had cleared, however, the pair looked up at the object sticking out of their house with identical looks of horror. The two weren’t scared for themselves anymore though.

“That’s Marinette’s bedroom!” Tom shouted, the first of the couple to recover. He wasted no time rushing back into the building, taking the stairs two at a time as he made his way up to his daughter’s room desperately screaming her name. He was interrupted by a giant hand punching through his wall at the landing. It forced him to stagger back but he didn’t let it slow him down for long. As soon at the way was clear again Tom continued his ascent.

The man burst through the door of his apartment, tripping, in time to hear Cat Noir activate his Cataclysm. A deep crack began to run across the ceiling and then suddenly it was raining dust and bits of drywall and plaster. He swiftly got to his feet again and hurried to the ladder that led to his daughter’s room. Tom tried frantically to force open the hatch to the attic room, but it wouldn’t budge. Something, likely debris, was block it and pinning the hatch shut.

From outside Tom heard Ladybug shout her catch phrase and a swarm of glowing ladybugs flew through the house, repairing all of the damage that had been down in the last few minutes and making the place as good as new. He didn’t care about the house though. With the rubble out of the way the hatch flew open and the baker climbed up into his daughter’s room. Immediately he made his way up the ladder to her bed to check to see if she was alright, but gasped in surprised when he found the space empty. He searched the rest of the room in a panic, pausing only when his wife poked her head up through the open hatch and called his name, her expression and tone asking if their daughter was okay.

“Marinette’s not in her bedroom!” he asked her and the woman gasped, worry taking over her features. She was about to ask where Marinette may be when the two heard a noise on the roof. Their daughter was smart and resourceful. Figuring she may have climbed to the roof to escape the destruction of her room the two concerned parents peaked through the roof hatch to check for any sign of their little girl. Tom caught sight of her first, the auburn haired girl leaning on the metal railing of the rooftop, and was about to run to her and hug her when his wife place a hand on his arm and held him back. It was then that he noticed she wasn’t alone. Next to her stood Cat Noir, leaning on the railing with one hand and absently holding a sleeping August with the other. Their backs were to the opening and the two teens were chatting softly. Tom lowered the door to the hatch slowly, taking care to be quiet, leaving it open just enough so he as his wife could observe the teens and hear what they were talking about without disturbing them.

* * *

After the buildings were restored to their former state, Gigantitan was reverted back into August. He fell directly into Ladybug’s arms, dropping his pacifier as he was caught by the masked girl. She knelt to pick it up for him. Looking down at the innocent baby she couldn’t help but give him a small smile, though there was a hint of sadness to it. Another villain stopped, another Akuma purified. It used to be something she would celebrate. It used to be something that filled her with a sense of accomplishment and joy from helping others, from saving people. These days though a dark little thought always lurked at the back of her mind with every Akuma she purified: _who’s going to save me?_

It was selfish. She knew it was selfish, but she couldn’t help it. She worked so hard fighting these battles, extracting Akumas and purifying them of their dark magic to keep them from causing any more trouble, helping these people with their problems so they wouldn’t fall victim to Hawk Moth once again. At the end of the day everything was better for them, they got their friends and loved ones back, their misdeeds were forgiven, and they got to return to their normal lives. She should be happy for them, and she was, but she was also jealous.

Ladybug stared down at the toddler in her arms and hugged him. She couldn’t stay mad at a baby. It was Hawk Moth she should direct her unhappy feelings at. At that moment Cat Noir crossed his arms and regarded the two of them, stating, “I’m a bit jealous.”

She huffed at that and, hearing her earrings warn her of her impending transformation, she shove August into Cat Noir’s arms and replied, “Don’t be. Here, you can have him.”

Without waiting for him to reply the teen hero threw her yo-yo and swung away, coming to land on her roof behind a brick wall. She glanced around to make sure nobody was watching before speaking the phrase that would undo her hero transformation.

The sparkling light magic travelled over her body from her feet to her head, breaking away from her as a glowing orb that turned into her Kwami. The red and black insect-like creature smiled at the teen, who, despite the magic seeming to have done its job, still looked to be wearing her superhero costume. The red and black bodysuit and mask were still exactly where they had been moments before, but her earrings were now the simple black circles they became while she wasn’t in hero mode.

Marinette lingered for a moment, not wanting to shift out of the only form she could take that was actually her own, but she knew she couldn’t remain Ladybug forever. With a sad sigh and a wave of black and purple magic the teen’s appearance changed. Dark pigtails were replaced with long hime cut auburn hair, tied at the tips with black hair ties. Aqua blue eyes jumped across the spectrum to olive green. In place of her red and black bodysuit she wore a light pink sundress covered in small white polkadots. The straps of the dress, hidden under her customary dark jacket, were black ribbon that continued down to wrap around her torso several times before meeting up as a bow at her side. A trim of black ruffles brushed against the dark translucent tights that covered her legs.

Marinette sighed again as she sunk down the wall, drawing her knees up to her chest. The heels of her black ankle boots clicked together as she did so, but the sound didn’t even register to her. The brunette buried her head in her knees and squeezed them a little tighter, finally letting her tears start to fall.

* * *

As Cat Noir held August he watched the baby begin to squirm and throw his hand up, waving it in the direction Ladybug had gone. He thought for a moment before saying, “You miss her already too. I know how it feels.”

“Gummi!” August complained, turning back to the hero with a frown on his face. For a moment the blond teen stared at the toddler in mild confusion, unable to decipher the meaning of the strange word. He thought back to the moments leading up to this and then it dawned on him, “Ah, of course! The pacifier!”

The infant repeated the word as a confirmation and Cat Noir took out his staff. He extended the staff and vaulted up to the roof of the bakery, leaping over the metal railing and landing effortlessly on his feet. To his surprise he saw a girl standing there, having missed her climbing back over to this part of the roof. Cat’s mind immediately supplied a name: _Lila_. Then he furrowed his brow, the answer not seeming quite right. The hair was right and the face was definitely Lila’s, but something seemed off about her eyes and the way she dressed reminded him more of…

“Marinette?” He asked, watching the girl in question move her hands from behind her back to cross them over her chest. She gazed at him with one eyebrow raised in question, her strange green eyes seeming to bore right through to his soul. He was suddenly uneasy, feeling that familiar need to run, but he forced it down and pressed on, asking her, “What are you doing here?”

“I live here.” She stated with a derisive snort, as though the answer were obvious. He had to admit that it was; he’d visited her here before as Cat Noir and he’d even been in her house before as Adrien. He was well aware that she lived here. He still didn’t know why she was on the roof, but a moment of thought about it caused a heavy feeling to form in his gut, sitting there like a lead weight. Ladybug’s ring had crashed into her room, likely with her in it. And he had stood around making jokes. He was glad his friend seemed to have escaped to the roof in time, but the thought still made him feel guilty.

Eventually Marinette interrupted his thoughts with a question of her own, “The better question is: what are _you_ doing here?”

At that he froze, his shoulders drawing up. He had been following Ladybug, but he knew she would have already transformed back into her civilian form by now so he really had no excuse to be there. He wracked his mind for an answer, fidgeting nervously under the green-eyed girl’s intense gaze, until something came to him.

“I was fighting a villain near your house a few minutes ago. I heard about your situation… and I thought I’d stop by to see how you’re doing and see if I could help.” He replied, staring off to the side, unable to look her in the eye. It wasn’t a lie. He had intended to stop by and check on her as Cat Noir for a while now. He could just never bring himself to actually do it. He remembered that moment at the school where she had told Alya, Nino and him about her predicament. It had been devastating, but he was sure that there had to be some way to deakumatize her. He’d asked Plagg extensively about it, run theory after theory by his kwami but came up with nothing. The Akuma was in her heart and destroying her heart to release it would kill her. He’d wondered if the magical ladybugs would be able to restore her to life since they seem able to restore people even after they’ve melted or turned to glitter, but Plagg had somewhat cryptically told him that it wouldn’t work.

Cat chanced a glance at Marinette and saw that her expression had become a sad smile, replacing the frown that seemed to permanently mar her face these days. She moved over to the edge of the roof next to him, crossing her forearms on the metal railing and leaning. She stared out at the city, the lights of Paris reflecting in her eyes. This close he could see she had been crying and his heart ached for his friend. When she spoke it was in a tone of such finality that it left him paralyzed for a moment, “There’s nothing you, or anybody else, can do, so don’t bother worrying about it.”

“No!” He eventually managed to croak out and she glanced at him. He turned to stare out at the city, leaning on the railing with one hand, a flush creeping up on his cheeks. In the other August was starting to fall asleep. He cleared his throat and tried again, “No, I mean, I’m going to worry about you. I want you to be happy. I want everyone to be happy. Someday I hope that Hawk Moth won’t be a threat, because we’ll live in a world where people don’t have to feel those emotions he takes advantage of.”

“I’m not sure a world like that is even possible.” The auburn haired girl mused, something dark shining in her eyes. Cat Noir shrugged, “I know it’s not practical, but I can still hope.”

“Hmm.” Was that only reply Marinette gave for several long seconds before she told him, “We were reading the myth of Pandora’s Box in class. The gods created Pandora and gave her a box, telling her never to open it. Her curiosity got the better of her and she did, releasing the evils trapped inside it to wreck havoc on the world. Things like jealousy, greed, anger, vanity, fear, hate, disease… and hope.”

Cat Noir tilted his head as the girl next to him paused. She seemed to be mulling something over in her head, debating with herself. Soon enough she nodded and kept talking, her tone dark, “I never got to finish the assignment, but the teacher wanted us to write an essay about what we think it means that hope was in the box. I used to think that hope was meant to be that shining light in the darkness, some small amount of good amongst all the evil, but now… Now I think hope was actually one of the evils all along. It’s not obviously evil or bad like the others; it’s a deceptive kind of evil that comes in the guise of something good. When something’s not likely to happen or even guaranteed not to happen we still hope for it and we hold out that hope, clinging to it like a lifeline, and we just end up disappointed and miserable in the end.”

Silence fell between the two teens. They stared out across the city, at the golden glow of the lights shining against the pitch black sky. The air around them had become gloomy. Maybe it had been already and he simply hadn’t noticed. He knew exactly what she was talking about with that last statement. As much as he wanted to tell her she was wrong he couldn’t. As much as he wanted to tell her that he would find a way to fix everything he couldn’t. As Cat Noir he was never at a loss for words, always confident and knowing exactly what to say or do in any situation. It was always Adrien that had trouble. Even though he looked like Cat Noir right now, standing here on the rooftop with Marinette he felt like he was still just Adrien.

“I’m sorry…” he sighed, his voice small and quiet. He wasn’t sure why he was apologising, but he felt like he needed to. Maybe it was because he didn’t help at all before this happened, maybe it was because he couldn’t help now, maybe it was just because he didn’t know what else to say.

Marinette turned her olive green eyes on him, head tilted slightly in mild confusion. Her tone matched her expression, “You didn’t do anything.”

“I know.” the young hero nodded slowly. Distantly he heard his ring warn him that he was going to change back. He stood up, turning to look at her one last time. Their eyes met and for a moment he was again thrown off by the sense that something was strange about those olive gems, something he couldn’t quite place. A silent acknowledgement passed between them and he withdrew his staff, extending it. Nothing more needed to be said. Nothing more could be said. So he wordless went on his way.

He was going to change back so and he still needed to get August home.

**Author's Note:**

> Tallying up the votes from here and elsewhere Outfit 3 won. You can see her reference [here](https://66.media.tumblr.com/b005004f7d61878c57e5b2521342ca77/tumblr_pzi3iwhUOq1yonsi5o1_500.png)  
As far as the episode order goes I think I'm going to rearrange some. In this series Weredad comes after Chameleon while Backwarder, Animaestro, Christmaster, Oblivio and Stormy Weather 2 comes before.  
A note on Pandora's Box. There are several versions of the myth, some where hope stays trapped and others where it gets free along with everything else. I decided that the one they read in class is one where hope gets free.


End file.
